Pinus 



1067 



PINUS COULTERI, Coulter's Pine. 



Pinus Coulten, Don, in Trans. Linn. Soc. xvii. 440 (1836); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit iv 2250 



1838 ; Lawson, Pinet. Brit. i. 23 (1884) j Masters, in Gard. Chron. xxiii. 415, figs. 73, 74 



(1885), IV. 764, fig. 109 (1888), and in Journ. Linn. Soc. {Bot.) xxxv. 597 (1904)- Sargent 



Stha N. Amer. xi. 99, tt. 571, 572 (1897), and Trees N. Amer. 24 (1905); Kent, Veitch's 



Man. Coniferce, 325 (1900); Clinton-Baker, Illust. Conif. i. 17 (1909). 



Pinus macrocarpa, Lindley, in Bot. Reg. xxvi. app. 61 (1840). 



A tree, attaining in America 80 ft. in height and 1 2 ft. in girth. Bark about 

 2 in. thick, dark brown, deeply divided into broad rounded connected scaly ridges. 

 Young branchlets stout, glabrous, glaucous, with very prominent pulvini. Buds 

 ovoid, acuminate or cuspidate, very large, i to i J in. long, and f in. thick ; scales 

 appressed, coated with resin, light brown, with white fimbria on their margins. 



Leaves in threes, spreading, persistent for three or four years, 8 to 12 in. 

 'ofig' tV to -^-^ in. wide, rigid, curved, twisted, serrulate, marked with numerous 

 stomatic lines on the three surfaces, ending in a long sharp cartilaginous point ; resin- 

 canals median ; basal sheath \\ in. long. 



Cones ^ lateral, on short stout stalks, pendulous, ovoid, 10 to 14 in. long, and 

 4 to 5 in. in diameter, yellowish brown; scales thick, 2\ in. long, \\ in. broad; 

 apophyses obliquely pyramidal, terminating in flattened elongated umbos, straight 

 or curved, and armed with flattened incurved resinous spines. Seeds, on deep 

 depressions on the scales, oval, compressed, \ in. long, dark brown or blackish, 

 encircled by the wings which, very narrow and rim-like on the sides, expand 

 above, and are oblique, brown, and about an inch in length. Cotyledons, 10 to 14. 



The cones open in autumn in California, remaining, after the seeds escape, on 

 the branches for several years. Occasionally the cones are shorter and thicker than 

 usual, with short spurs, and then resemble those of P. Sabiniana ; but they may 

 always be distinguished by the long-winged seeds, which leave long depressions on 

 the inner surface of the scales. 



This species is scattered singly or in small groves through coniferous forests on 

 the dry slopes and ridges of the coast ranges of California, from Mount Diablo and 

 the Santa Lucia mountains southwards to the Cuyamaca mountains, at elevations 

 between 3000 and 6000 ft. It is most abundant on the San Bernardino and San 

 Jacinto^ ranges, at 5000 ft. altitude. It is usually known as the big-cone pine, 

 from the size of the cones, which often weigh three or four pounds. The seeds were 

 formerly gathered in large quantities and eaten by the Indians. P. Cou/iert differs 



' According to Lawson, finei. Brit. i. 24 (1884), a tree, eighteen years old, in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris, produced 

 two cones in 1852. 



H. M. Hall, in Univ. Calif. Publications, Botany, i. 20, 53 (1902), says it is commonly met with on the south and 

 west sides of the San Jacinto mountain, where it forms small groves and narrow strips along the lower edge of the belt of 

 P. ponderosa. It is also found scattered among the other pines up to 6500 to 75°° ft- on south slopes, but does not occur on 

 the sides of the mountain facing the Colorado desert. The seeds have a strong oily taste, and are not gathered by the Saboba 

 and Santa Rosa Indians, those of P. monophylla and P. Parryana being much preferred. 



